When All Lights Go Out I (TFP)

Once they returned to the lobby, Ratchet returned to work on the Jack Hammer while the other bots watch Bee dance with Jack, Miko and Raf. Optimus smiled as he saw that they were having a rather good time. The whole day has been filled with fun, and Optimus was happy that Azura was happy. He glanced at the hallway as he knew she should be on her way back to the lobby now. He doubted she would take very long. Though he guessed she could get distracted with her fish tanks, as he knew she had not thought about the fish when she woke up from recharge that morning.

While they waited, Ratchet was annoyed by the music that echoed in the lobby from the guitar. He didn't try to stop the children from having fun, but he was still annoyed. Wheeljack enjoyed the music and he just moved his body a little in time with the music. But he would stop when he heard the patter of small feet running to the lobby. Wheeljack knew it was Azura and he smiled when he saw her blue optics in the shadow of the hallway.

"And there she is!" Wheeljack said enthusiastically. She giggled and ran over to the wrecker and Wheeljack picked her up. "Just in time too! They're playing their final song for the night!"

She nodded with a big smile. "Oh, I know! But today has been a good day!"

"Now comes the time for you to be winding down that excitement of yours, Azura," Wheeljack said gently and Azura just frowned a little. "Don't be so surprised, youngling. I would have thought you would be put to berth right now."

"But I...I am not tired!" Azura retorted with a shake of her head. "I still want to just run and go crazy."

"Wheeljack is correct, Azura." She looked at Optimus as he spoke to her in a calm, but authoritative tone. "You need to relax and wind yourself down. I know you have been excited all day, and you and Wheeljack are already friends, but it is almost time for you to go into recharge. We do not need you to make us chase you all over the base."

Azura understood and she would do as he told. "I would do what he says..." Wheeljack whispered to her and she looked at him curiously. "The last time I disobeyed my carrier when I was a little sparkling, I had accidentally caused a flood of a gooey substance we used to have as sparklings. It was something we used to mould and build things with, and I had knocked a whole barrel full because my little brother was chasing me. But when my carrier went to punish me for it, she got a whole glob of slime smacking her backside so hard she fell back on it and bounced twice that it caused a mini earthquake."

Azura covered her mouth as she tried to keep herself from laughing so hard, mostly because Optimus heard what Wheeljack had whispered to her and he was not impressed. She did her best to keep herself from laughing too hard while Wheeljack raised his hand to show he would not tell her anything else that Optimus would deem inappropriate. Bulkhead covered his mouth with his hand to also keep himself from laughing loudly as he also overheard it. Ratchet did not since he was too distracted.

"I guess I should watch what I say," Wheeljack commented sarcastically.

"Indeed." Optimus looked at Azura and smiled. "Though I do hope that this story you will tell about the races before she falls into recharge will be fine."

"Of course, it will. It might have a bit of detail about clashing metal together on the track, but that's nothing to worry about. I am sure that she has seen the races on this planet." Azura nodded as she had seen car and horse racing on the TV sometimes, so she was well aware of that. "She won't have nightmares."

Bulkhead smiled at Wheeljack. "Seems good to me. And now that you are part of Team Prime, we need to pick out a vehicle mode for you. I have some ideas, and maybe Azura can come along and give you ideas too."

Azura nodded excitedly in agreement with Bulkhead. Wheeljack did not seem to be excited though as his expression softened. "Uh...about that, Bulk..." He glanced down at Azura as her smile quickly faded. "Now that my ship's almost repaired, I'm itching to know what else I might find out there." She immediately felt upset as that meant Wheeljack wanted to leave the base.